Interim director picked to run PERA full time

Greg Trujillo will be director of state’s embattled $18 billion retirement trust fund

A veteran of New Mexico’s retirement system is officially taking the reins of an agency with a history of inner turmoil.

The Public Employees Retirement Association board voted 9-1 on Thursday to make Greg Trujillo executive director of the agency that oversees an $18 billion trust fund.

Trujillo has been the agency’s acting director since his predecessor, Wayne Propst, left in February. He was the agency’s deputy director for eight years and before that worked at the Educational Retirement Board for more than a decade.

Trujillo and other PERA officials couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday, but the agency sent a news release announcing his appointment by the board.

“I’m excited for the opportunity and look forward to working with the PERA Board and staff to continue serving our members,” Trujillo said in a statement.

PERA represents about 90,000 residents, including 40,000 retirees.

It began running into financial trouble in the late 1990s when payouts from the fund began outpacing contributions, according to the Governor’s Office.

Trujillo has been credited with helping to revamp PERA’s troubled operations and for playing a key role in getting a state Senate bill passed that pumped $76 million into PERA during the 2020 legislative session.

At that time, state financial officials estimated PERA had $6.6 billion in unfunded liabilities.

“We are avoiding the cliff if we do this,” Sen. George

Muñoz, D-Gallup, said after the bill passed. “At the end of the day, this fund has to be solvent.”

The PERA board has had its own struggles. It has been plagued by infighting for years, arguing over everything from parliamentary procedure to snacks.

Aside from Propst leaving, the agency also lost its chief investment officer and chief counsel in the past several months and has been at a stalemate in choosing a chairperson.

At a Legislative Finance Committee hearing in July, state lawmakers sharply criticized what they saw as PERA’s lack of stability.

Among them was House Speaker Brian Egolf, who said the board “has been incredibly troubling to watch” and bemoaned how it is mired in turmoil amid multiple lawsuits.

Egolf, D-Santa Fe, asked the committee to analyze the agency’s problems and offer recommendations on actions lawmakers might take in the next legislative session to correct its course.

His concerns also included PERA’s investment performance.

Agency officials have said PERA has shifted away from high-growth funds — a move causing it to lag behind its peers during boom times but also will prevent it from plummeting into deep valleys during market downturns.

Despite this more conservative approach, PERA officials say the trust fund has reached a value of more than $18 billion, an all-time high.

Acting board Chairman Francis Page expressed confidence in Trujillo leading the agency to a better future.

“Through the last nine months, I have worked very closely with Mr. Trujillo and found him to be a very capable and qualified individual for the position,” Page said in a statement. “Now PERA can move forward with its work.”